1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to automatic cleaning devices and, more particularly, to devices for cleaning barbecue grilles.
2. Prior Art.
One of the favorite pastimes of Americans, particularly in the summertime, is barbecueing food in the backyard on weekends. As anyone engaged in this pastime knows, the most unpleasant part of barbecueing is cleaning the barbecue grille. The usual procedure is to take the greasy and dirty grille into the kitchen sink and therein to apply various kinds of detergents and elbow-grease to remove the various deposits which are firmly attached to the grille as a result of the high temperatures achieved during the grilling process.
To date, no convenient way to clean grille bars has appeared in the marketplace.
A search of the patent art has revealed nothing which is anticipatory of the invention herein claimed but for record purposes the patents which were found in the search are as follows:
U.S. Pat. No. 525,574 (Arbuckle) issued Sept. 4, 1894 for a wheel washing device;
U.S. Pat. No. 580,312 (Harris) issued Apr. 6, 1897 for a brush machine for cleaning metallic bars or plates;
U.S. Pat. No. 3,077,622 (Murphy) issued Feb. 19, 1963 for a record cleaner;
U.S. Pat. No. 4,185,528 (Andersen) issued Jan. 29, 1980 for cleaning apparatus for disc cutter; and,
U.S. Pat. No. 4,202,071 (Scharpf) issued May 13, 1980 for apparatus for washing and drying phonograph records.
None of the devices disclosed in the cited patents affords any relief to the week-end barbecuer, or his wife. The nearest of the cited patents to the device which is shown and claimed herein is the Harris U.S. Pat. No. 580,312. The structure of that patent involves a pair of brushes between which the bars to be cleaned are placed. The scrubbing action is a longitudinal one, not a rotary one, and the structure is large and cumbersome and not applicable to the normal household environment where barbecue-grilles are found. Actually, the brush machine of Harris is not directed to cleaning grilles, at all, but rather, is addressed to cleaning metallic bars or plates while still hot and before being rolled.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a barbecue-grille cleaning machine which will be free of the problems residing in the machines of the prior art.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a barbecue-grille cleaning machine or cleaner, which is compact, inexpensive and convenient to use.